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Telus HSPA network to go national in October?

updated 02:50 pm EDT, Wed May 27, 2009

by MacNN Staff

Telus HSPA National in Oct

Telus' planned HSPA 3G network could go live on a national scale earlier than hinted earlier, an additional tip indicated today. Besides supporting the claim that the Canadian provider's new network should have an informal launch in Vancouver on September 2nd, the BGR source now has HSPA ready for the "majority" of the population in October. Previous unofficial timetables would have had the technology active only by early 2010.

It's not certain whether Bell, which is also moving to HSPA, will have a similar timetable or else trail behind Telus on implementing the network.

A quick upgrade is considered important for either of the two carriers not just for the stated goal of having the networking ready for the Vancouver Olympics but for closing the competitive gap between themselves and Rogers. The latter has an effective monopoly on high-profile devices like the iPhone and HTC's Android phones as none of them are made to support the CDMA calling and EVDO data standards used by Bell and Telus. Either carrier also can't earn money on calls made outside of Canada without offering dual-mode phones that work with foreign GSM phone networks.

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I cannot wait to see what they offer as competition for Fido/Rogers. I'm currently a Fido subscriber with a 3G iPhone but if they offer competitive data and voice plans with support for visual voice mail, I might consider a switch. Here's hoping that they can get a deal with Apple for the next iPhone model.

See that folks? I'm not a shill for Fido/Rogers. I'm just a realistic customer with limited options and a need for GSM/HSPA network service for my phone of choice which is the iPhone.

I hope you're right. History has proven that Telus and Bell will never go head-to-head on competing for anything. They have complete collusion in place and will gouge their customers in their respective turf.

However, they may be interested in competing with Rogers (whooaaa, what an idea!!!), since they've been left out of the "cool device" game for a little while.

And I'm sure part of the motivation is for roaming deals in Europe, Australia and Asia, since right now they can't have that.

Nevertheless, I'm not holding my hopes high, since Telus has never been that cheap anyway; they're probably the most expensive of the three [two].

Is the, "Hey we're gonna come out with dual CDMA/GSM phones to make more money", the reasoning behind why the fantastic journalists here decided to use a picture of an EVDO Blackberry in an article about HSPA?

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